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Design Thinking for Engineers

Course Summary

The Design Thinking for Engineers training course is designed to help developers learn how to thoroughly understand user needs so they can build the right products. Design Thinking exposes learners to uncovering unmet needs, building prototypes and MVP's, and running experiments to test hypotheses.

The course begins with a deep dive into the concepts that drive Design Thinking including the process to understand customer needs. Next, learners will be introduced to how they can create product specifications that solve customer needs and iterate on those specifications to get to the most optimal solution. Building minimum viable products will be covered as well as supporting artifacts such as prototyping and how to develop a product architecture. Lastly, students will learn more about Agile software development methodology and how design thinking fits within an agile team's practice. Participants will engage in several interactive activities throughout the session based on available time and participant backgrounds.

Prerequisites:

Students should have experience working on an Agile team on consumer-facing products.

Purpose
Learn how to apply Design Thinking to the software development process in order to increase innovation, acquire new customers, expand with existing customers, and improve customer satisfaction for your products.
Audience
Software Developers, Technical Managers, and Product Managers wanting to learn new ways of developing products.
Skill Level
Advanced
Style
Lecture | Hands-on Activities
Duration
3 Days
Related Technologies
Software Engineering Training | Agile

 

Learning Objectives
  • Describe and explain what Design Thinking is and how to incorporate it into software development projects.
  • Manage the requirements gathering process to determine customer needs.
  • Adopt MVP's and prototypes to quickly get feedback and iterate on designs.
  • Produce product specifications that clearly outline user needs and how those specifications will be used in the software development lifecycle.
  • Interpret the role of Design Thinking in the Agile development process.

What You'll Learn:

In the Design Thinking for Engineers course, you'll learn:
  • Design Thinking Skills
    • What is Design Thinking?
    • Managing ideas in the requirements process
    • User research fundamentals
    • Activity: Uncover root causes of user problems with “5 Whys”
    • Identifying needs through methods such as 5 Whys
    • Activity: Role-play short user interviews and summarize key findings
    • Understanding how change can impact a user
    • Activity: Empathy Mapping
  • Developing Product Specifications
    • Why do we need specifications?
    • Creating Product Specifications that matter
    • Including OKR's and metrics in your specifications
    • Techniques for problem decomposition
    • Effective Brainstorming
    • Activity: Guided brainstorming techniques to generate solutions for a specific product challenge
  • Iteration thru Prototypes and MVP's
    • Why do I need Prototypes?
    • What types of prototypes can we create?
    • Presenting prototypes to get feedback and their limitations
    • Activity: Using simple tools create different types of prototypes
    • System exploration and concept/down selection
    • Developing minimum viable product and iterating to add value
    • Getting direct or indirect feedback
    • Activity: Identify the absolute minimum feature set for a given product idea
  • Role of Agile Methodology with Design Thinking
    • Choosing and designing the right development process
    • Understanding the different roles and responsibilities
    • Challenge and engagement between roles, becoming a team
    • Activity: Problem-solving exercise emphasizing communication and engagement between different roles within a team
  • Best Practices
    • What is Systematic Innovation?
    • When should Design Thinking be used?
    • How do we improve the Design Thinking process over time?
    • Alternatives to Design Thinking
real world content

Real-World Content

Project-focused demos and labs using your tool stack and environment, not some canned "training room" lab.
expert practitioners

Expert Practitioners

Industry experts that bring their battle scars into the classroom.
experiential learning

Experiential Learning

More coding than lecture, coupled with architectural and design discussions.
tailored outlines

Tailored Outlines

One-size-fits-all doesn't apply to training teams. That's where we come in!

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